Migration of a Late Cretaceous fish

Abstract

Late Cretaceous sediments from the Western Interior of North America yield exceptionally well preserved fossils that serve as proxies for the rapidly changing climate preceding the Cretaceous/Tertiary boundary (about 67-65 Myr ago). Here we reconstruct the ontogenetic history of a Maastrichtian-age fish, Vorhisia vulpes, by using the carbon, oxygen and strontium isotope ratios of four aragonite otoliths collected from the Fox Hills Formation of South Dakota. Individuals of V. vulpes spawned in brackish water (about 70-80% seawater) and during their first year migrated to open marine waters of the Western Interior Seaway, where they remained for 3 years before returning to the estuary, presumably to spawn and die. The mean delta(18)O from the marine growth phase of V. vulpes yields a seawater temperature of 18 degrees C, which is consistent with leaf physiognomy and general-circulation-model temperature estimates for the Western Interior during the latest Maastrichtian.

Ecogeochemistry potential in deep time biodiversity illustrated using a modern deep-water case study

“…C biomineral values with subannual cyclicity super-imposed in the adult portions has been reported in Cretaceous otoliths from the western Interior Seaway [47]. Again, carbon isotope excursions coincide with seasonal fluctuations in otolith d…”

“…Ocean waters display distinct temperature and salinity gradients, and if temperature and salinity profiles are known or can be inferred, then the isotopic composition of biomineral oxygen can be predicted as a function of depth, and compared with incremental samples of isotope compositions along biomineral growth axes to infer ontogenetic variations in habitat depth [45,46]. Depth niches have been widely inferred from oxygen isotope compositions in fossil biominerals, primarily supporting palaeoclimate and palaoeoceanograhic reconstruction, and these methods have long been used to infer life-history water column movements in many fossil pelagic organisms, including fishes [47], ammonites and belemnites [48]. Translation of these methods to modern marine ecosystem applications has been rather restricted, however, despite the advantages that modern ecologists have in terms of knowledge of temperature and salinity gradients in ocean basins, unaltered materials and accessible sample sizes.…”

Multi-element otolith fingerprints unravel sea−lagoon lifetime migrations of gilthead sea bream Sparus aurata

“…Carpenter et al 2003, Zazzo et al 2006. One of the main limitations is the risk of chemical alteration prior to excavation (Andrus & Crowe 2002).…”

“…They are, therefore, natural tags whose structure and chemistry provide a record of the environmental history of individuals throughout their lives (Campana 1999), and can reveal movements of present and ancient fish between different water bodies (e.g. Carpenter et al 2003, Walther & Thorrold 2006, Clarke et al 2009, Tanner et al 2011. Nevertheless, most studies in this field (e.g.…”

Incremental growth and mineralogy of Pannonian (Late Miocene) sciaenid otoliths: paleoecological implications

“…Woydack & Morales-Nin 2001) and microchemical information (e.g. Carpenter et al 2003) of fossil otoliths proved to provide unique information about the coeval paleoenvironment, these parameters have never been studied on the Pannonian otoliths. They are independent proxies for the temperature and salinity of Lake Pannon.…”